ALEX Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] USS6 (6) 4 :

4 ) Identify cultural and economic developments in the United States from 1900 through the 1930s.

•  Describing the impact of various writers, musicians, and artists on American culture during the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age

Examples: Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Andrew Wyeth, Frederic Remington, W. C. Handy, Erskine Hawkins, George Gershwin, Zora Neale Hurston (Alabama)

•  Identifying contributions of turn-of-the-century inventors

Examples: George Washington Carver, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison, Wilbur and Orville Wright (Alabama)

•  Describing the emergence of the modern woman during the early 1900s

Examples: Amelia Earhart, Zelda Fitzgerald, Helen Keller, Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Washington, suffragettes, suffragists, flappers (Alabama)

•  Identifying notable persons of the early 1900s

Examples: Babe Ruth, Charles A. Lindbergh, W. E. B. Du Bois, John T. Scopes (Alabama)

•  Comparing results of the economic policies of the Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover Administrations

Examples: higher wages, increase in consumer goods, collapse of farm economy, extension of personal credit, stock market crash, Immigration Act of 1924

[ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

Students will use inspiration from Jacob Lawrence and Aaron Douglas to create their own Harlem Renaissance-inspired artwork. 

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

[ARTS] VISA (6) 3 :

3) Develop new ideas through open-ended experiments, using various materials, methods and approaches in creating works of art.

[ELA2021] (6) 7 :

7. Produce clear, coherent narrative, argument, and informative/explanatory writing in which the development, organization, style, and tone are relevant to task, purpose, and audience, using an appropriate command of language.

a. Write narratives incorporating key literary elements, including characters, plot, setting, point of view, resolution of a conflict, dialogue, and sensory details.

b. Write informative or explanatory texts with an organized structure and a formal style, incorporating a focused point of view, a clear purpose, credible evidence, and technical word meanings.

c. Write an argument to convince the reader to take an action or adopt a position, stating a claim and supporting the claim with relevant, well-organized evidence from credible sources.

Students will analyze art and describe the beginning, middle, and end of the story portrayed.  They will write a personal narrative including a beginning, middle, and end.  They will draw a narrative storyboard in their sketchbook.  They will choose one event (beginning, middle, or end) from their storyboard and create a textile collage.  Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.   

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ARTS] VISA (6) 1 :

1) Work collaboratively to develop new and innovative ideas for creating art.

[ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

Students will analyze profile views in portraits.  They will practice sketching a head in profile.  They will draw a classmate's profile using charcoal.  Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.  

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

[ARTS] VISA (6) 5 :

5) Design or redesign objects, places, or systems that address the specific needs of a community and explore related careers.

a. Use one-point perspective to design three-dimensional objects.

Students will identify types of lines and shapes in architecture.  They will draft a building elevation on grid paper.  They will trace their building using white paper and a pen.  Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.   

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

[ARTS] VISA (6) 7 :

7) Compare and contrast methods associated with preserving and presenting two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and digital artwork.

Examples: Storing preliminary sketches in a sketchbook or journal versus mounting and matting work for exhibition and saving personal work using digital methods.

Students will analyze sculptures focusing on characteristics of three-dimensional art.  They will make a columnar form out of clay.  Using the subtractive method, they will carve an image into the column.  They will decide how to present their column.  Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.  

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

Students will analyze shapes in art.  They will use colored pencils to practice their composition. They will use tape masking and glazing techniques with watercolor paints to create artwork based on the preliminary drawing.  Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.  

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

[ARTS] VISA (6) 3 :

3) Develop new ideas through open-ended experiments, using various materials, methods and approaches in creating works of art.

Students will identify analogous colors on a color wheel.  They will choose three adjacent colors.  They will create a still-life portrait using oil pastel techniques such as strokes, layers, and blending.  Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.  

   View Standards     Standard(s): [ARTS] VISA (3) 2 :

2) Demonstrate skills using available resources, tools, and technologies to investigate personal ideas through the art-making process.

Examples: Choose from a variety of resources and materials to create a work of art.
Use books Imagine That by Joyce Raymond or Dinner at Magritte's by Michael Garland.

[ARTS] VISA (4) 3 :

3) Generate ideas and employ a variety of strategies and techniques to create a work of art/design.

[ARTS] VISA (5) 3 :

3) Communicate personal ideas, images, and themes through artistic choices of media, technique, and subject matter.

[ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

[ELA2021] (3) 27 :

27. Read prose, poetry, and dramas, identifying the literary devices used by the author to convey meaning.

Examples: personification, imagery, alliteration, onomatopoeia, symbolism, metaphor, simile

[ELA2021] (3) 33 :

33. Write personal or fictional narratives with a logical plot (sequence of events), characters, transitions, and a sense of closure.

[ELA2021] (4) 16 :

16. Describe how authors use literary devices and text features to convey meaning in prose, poetry, and drama.

a. Identify clues in the text to recognize implicit meanings.

b. Apply prior knowledge to textual clues to draw conclusions about the author's meaning.

c. Make an inference about the meaning of a text and support it with textual evidence.

[ELA2021] (4) 32 :

32. Respond in writing to literature and informational text, including stories, dramas, poetry, and cross-curricular texts, both independently and with support, demonstrating grade-level proficiency.

[ELA2021] (5) 19 :

19. Interpret how authors use literary elements throughout a text, including character, setting, conflict, dialogue, and point of view.

[ELA2021] (5) 32 :

32. Respond in writing to literature and informational text, including stories, dramas, poetry, and cross-curricular texts, independently and with grade-level proficiency.

[ELA2021] (6) 4 :

4. Describe the use of literary devices in prose and poetry, including simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, tone, imagery, irony, symbolism, and mood, and indicate how they support interpretations of the text.

This lesson is not about markers over pencils; it is about developing a relationship between students and media and how such nurtured connections can support students' ideas in what they write and how they write it. Through in-class discussions about writing/drawing materials and carefully observing how an illustrator uses media to communicate ideas, students will see how materials can extend knowledge. This lesson provides opportunities for students to explore and experience the meaning potential of everyday writing and drawing tools in their own writing. The lesson can (and should be) adapted for older students.

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] LWT (0) 6 :

6 ) Compare cultural similarities and differences in individuals, families, and communities.

Examples: celebrations, food, traditions

[SS2010] LWT1 (1) 11 :

11 ) Identify traditions and contributions of various cultures in the local community and state. (Alabama)

Examples: Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah, Fourth of July, Cinco de Mayo

[SS2010] USS6 (6) 7 :

7 ) Identify changes on the American home front during World War II.

Example: rationing

•  Recognizing the retooling of factories from consumer to military production

•  Identifying new roles of women and African Americans in the workforce

•  Describing increased demand on the Birmingham steel industry and Port of Mobile facilities (Alabama)

•  Describing the experience of African Americans and Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II, including the Tuskegee Airmen and occupants of internment camps (Alabama)

[ARTS] VISA (0) 1 :

1) Engage in self-directed exploration and imaginative play with art materials.

a. Use motor skills to create two-dimensional art.

Examples: Finger painting, watercolors, paper collage, and rubbings.

b. Use motor skills to create three-dimensional art.

Examples: Rolling, folding, cutting, molding, pinching and pulling clay.

[ARTS] VISA (1) 2 :

2) Explore and experiment with a range of art materials.

a. Create two-dimensional art.

Examples: Family portrait or gadget printing.

b. Create three-dimensional art.

Examples: Pinch pots or found-object sculptures.

[ARTS] VISA (6) 2 :

2) Formulate an artistic investigation and discovery of relevant content for creating art.

Example: Make, share, and revise a list of ideas and preliminary sketches.

In this learning activity, students make their own Koinobori (fish kite). These kites were an important way of life for Japanese American children in internment camps during World War II.